DAMPA_75_years_of_quiet_design_ENG - Flipbook - Page 74
While this was happening, Fischer continued his research to
discover how very fine and dense one-millimetre perforations could be pressed in aluminium without causing indentations or tears in the process. In an attempt to find suitable
factory equipment to carry out this task, he contacted the
specialist machine tools maker Rich. Müller in Copenhagen.
Although it had half-a-century of experience of making
machines to perforate metal sheet, its engineers thought
that Fischer’s demand would be too difficult to achieve.
Early in 1959 Fischer decided instead to design a suitable
machine himself, engaging a young engineer, Tom Faxø, to
assist with this task. After some adjustment, it was found to
perform the perforating task very satisfactorily.
A further challenge was to find a company who could varnish them for protection, a maker of window blinds in the
Glostrup area of Copenhagen called Dansk Rullegardinindustri being chosen as it had a suitable spray booth. When
the conversion of the Tommerup factory was completed,
the entire production process would, of course, take place
there.
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Profiling of aluminium ceiling panels, circa 1960
At that time, the only source close-at-hand in Denmark of
suitably thin aluminium suitable for pressing acoustic ceiling
panels was the Danish telephone cable manufacturer Nordiske Kabel og Traadfabriker (NKT). It could supply strips primarily intended to be used by it to make cable ducting. As
its width was only 100 mm, this would mean that the panels
would be limited to a 90 mm width with 5 mm profiled edges
to give a modicum of rigidity.
